Srinagar: Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has accused the Department of Industries and Commerce (I&C) of discrediting various government guidelines and policies on the revival and rehabilitation of sick industrial enterprises.
A statement said that while expressing concern over the growing sickness in MSMEs in J&K, FCIK has regretted that the role of the I&C department in analysing and addressing this critical issue in consonance with the laid down policies and guidelines issued both by J&K and central governments was abysmal and disappointing.
"Whereas the sickness in industrial units is a global and normal phenomenon, the growing sickness in industry in J&K had multiple reasons mostly beyond the control of entrepreneurs which needed to be ascertained and analysed for an appropriate recourse by the governments” reads FCIK statement.
FCIK informed that the successive industrial policies launched in Jammu and Kashmir provided for an inbuilt mechanism for revival and rehabilitation of sick industry, which was first approved under Government Order No. 47-IND of 1999 dated 10-02-1999 which was continued within industrial policies of 2004, 2016 and 2021. The mechanism envisaged for the constitution of the State Level Revival Committee (SLRC) for analyzing and approving the revival programme of potentially viable sick units and treatment thereof.
“Apart from this, the current policy also makes the applicability of the guidelines for rehabilitation/revival of MSMEs notified by the Ministry of MSMEs vide Notification No. S.O 1432(E) dated 29-05-2015 along with Framework for Revival and Rehabilitation of MSMEs issued by Reserve Bank of India vide RBI/2015-16/338FIDD.MSME and NFS.BC.No.21/06.02.31/2015-16 dated 17-03-2016 mandatory on concerned departments and banks” claims FCIK.
FCIK also regretted the discontinuation of the State Level Inter-Institutional Committee (SLIIC) which was formed under the guidelines of RBI to deal with the problems of coordination for the rehabilitation of sick MSMEs and provided a useful forum for adequate interfacing between Government departments and term lending institutions/banks with the participation of industry representatives.
FCIK also blamed the government for backing out from its commitment to setting up an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) in partnership with J&K Bank as declared by the state government in its Budget Speech of 2015-16 with the aim to do asset stripping where needed arousing besides formulating a revival package where the revival was possible.
“Government of J&K and the Central Government had approved a corpus of Rs15.00 Crore and 100 Crores respectively for revival and rehabilitation of sick units which didn’t see the light of the day” regretted FCIK.
FCIK has formally taken up the issue with UT’s Chief Secretary and asked him to take notice of the non-implementation of government policies and guidelines by his subordinate departments and Banks. The organisation has informed the Chief Secretary that concerned departments and Banks had not conducted the meetings of SLRC/DLRC, SLIIC, meetings under the MSME Framework and other guidelines for years. Contrary to these initiatives and guidelines, the Banks had initiated unethical and illegal actions against MSMEs forcing them to sell out their industrial units apart from their ancestral property mortgaged to banks for liquidation of loans.
FCIK has informed the Chief Secretary that the situation was grim and alarming for the very survival of existing units.
